Hollywood without makeup

Actor and Producer Ken Murray’s fascination with capturing candid moments in the lives of Hollywood stars came about as a result of purchasing a home movie-camera to record his own early stage performances. This extraordinary compilation of footage, narrated by Murray, captures the essence of Hollywood from its early days, to the rise of the star system and the domination of the big studios. Murray refers to his work as a “day by day personal film diary”, created to document memories of those who worked and played hard in the film industry. Highlights of this compilation include a publicity stunt involving Groucho and Harpo Marx, Jackie Cooper and Charles Laughton racing midget-cars down a street on the Paramount Studio lot; the on and off-set antics of Cary Grant during the filming of Gunga Din at Lone Pine; the television debuts of Kirk Douglas and Marilyn Monroe; footage shot inside Randolph Heart’s imposing ranch, San Simeon; and a cross-country train trip to publicise the film Virginia City, with the film’s leading man Errol Flynn and other stars, such as Humphrey Bogart, aboard. Also features footage of Charlie Chaplin, Clarke Gable, John Gilbert, Fred MacMurray, Jerome Power, Linda Darnell, Norma Shearer, Mae West, Laurel and Hardy, Cecil. B. Demille, Johnny Weissmuller, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Louella Parsons, Dick Powell, Carole Lombard, George Raft, Clara Bowe, Tom Mix, Mary Astor, Jane Wyman, Lucille Ball, Donna Reed, John Wayne, Robert Taylor, and Walt Disney.